Hi,I have recently bought a TI and I am thrilled with it. I have sailed it 5-6 times since buying it, and today noticed that the rudder control to one side was lost due to slippage of the line under the screw which attaches the line to the rudder. There are two such screws (L and R) and the loose one is misbehaving. It is very hard to screw it or unscrew, to the point that I am afraid I will ruin the Phillips head. I am not sure if it is due to a nylon nut on the bottom side but I did not think this should be so hard. Any ideas on how to solve this? Can I replace that screw and how would I get one? I am obviously afraid that it would loosen again during sailing and I will loose rudder control.Thanks a lot!

Firstly, congratulations on your very wise purchase! Whereabouts are you in Oz? It is always better if you can hook up with fellow Island sailors.

Can you completely unscrew the problem side? If so, clean out any muck in the threads, and go pick up a stainless steel washer as big as you like with a hole wide enough to fit the screw (of course, you might as well do both sides, but only one at a time to avoid you needing to reset steering from scratch). Now wrap the steering line around the screw a full 360 degrees, and as you turn the screw in, the wider surface of the washer will provide enough friction on the line without you needing a gorilla to tighten the screw.

Repeat on the other side and you are done. BTW, I set my steering line tension so there is no slack at dead ahead. There WILL be slack on one line at either end of the rudder travel. This is the function of the lines not being parallel to the hinge line, making it impossible for tension to remain unchanged throughout travel. This is no big deal though.

Thanks heaps. Great advise. I will see if that screw can be removed and a washer is a brilliant idea. I am in the Melbourne Bayside area, and no, I have not yet seen one on Port Phillip Bay, but I heard there are a few around. Cheers mate!

an update:I tried to unscrew that screw, and realised it was rotating together with the nut, which means the friction between the screw and the nut was so bad that the nut rounded its hexagonal socket in the rudder. I finally managed to unscrew it after a long back-and-forth action and plenty of WD40. I am now worried that if I put a new nut and screw there, the nut will rotate again as soon as there is a bit of friction between it and the screw. It is impossible to counter rotate the nut from below with a spanner, as the hexagonal area is narrow and relatively high up in the socket. Any solutions??! I am hoping this will be fixed as part of the warranty, as the screw and nut are definitely faulty. The other side, in comparison, screws freely and smoothly.Thanks!

AussieTI:I'm sure any standard stainless bolt and nut will work if you can't get to the dealer right away. Putting in a longer bolt with either a hex or Allen head with double nuts on the bottom might also help. In addition to the big washers I also tie the loose end of the line around the taught line with a clove hitch knot then wrap the excess around like a hang mans noose ( unfortunately the only two knots I know lol). I carry long nose pliers and extra rudder line in my tool kit.Hopefully this will keep you going and get you by until Hobie can address the problem.I'm on my third TI now, and find those rudder lines to be the thing I have to adjust or have problems with more than anything else on the TI. Because of previous problems with my earlier boats (having to adjust the rudder lines constantly), as soon as I got my 2012 TI (even before sailing it) I used Tonystott's washer trick, I removed the screw, wrapped the loose line around the washer on one side, put the screw back in partially, pulled the line tight, then wrapped the line around the screw and tightened it down. This gives you two extra turning corners that the line has to slip past (now the rudder line is pulling on the washer against the side of the screw rather than the screw threads). This seems to hold a little better and less frequent adjustments are needed. When you do need to adjust you simply loosen the screw unwrap from the screw, pull it tight again, then re-wrap around the screw and tighten again. I then re-tie the clove hitch and hangmans noose knots. I know it sounds like a pain, but it seems to work (I have to adjust the rudder lines a lot less than I used to, plus the lines don't get all cut up like they used to on the screw threads. This rudder line joint is probably the highest stress point on the whole boat. You no longer need a gorilla to help tighten the screws since your no longer depending on the screw tightness. Hope this helpsBobPSIf the hex socket (where the nut goes in the plastic) is buggered up, it might be worthwhile removing the rudder flip it upside down and pour marine epoxy around the nut to keep it from spinning), actually will be stronger than original setup when your done. If you do the washer trick, make sure there are no razor sharp edges on the washer (defeats the purpose).